Water Dawgs STEM Confidence Survey Results, 2023

This dataset originates from a STEM confidence survey conducted during the Water Dawgs program—a paid summer initiative hosted at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, USA. Held over 10 days in Summer 2023, the program engaged 16 high school students in a hands-on experience in freshwater science. Water Dawgs was designed to support students’ academic and professional development, with an emphasis on increasing access for individuals from populations historically excluded from STEM fields. The initiative was part of the broader impacts of two National Science Foundation-funded research projects and was shaped by three main objectives: (1) to expand access to university-led STEM opportunities by collaborating with a local public high school to recruit students from underrepresented backgrounds; (2) to highlight the connections between environmental science and students’ everyday lives and future career options, including non-STEM pathways; and (3) to foster greater self-efficacy in engaging with STEM subjects, particularly environmental science.

The survey was administered at both the beginning and conclusion of the 10-day program to assess changes in participants’ confidence related to STEM. The survey measured STEM confidence using a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating "not at all confident" and 5 indicating "totally confident."

The included R code contains a script to generate a figure and summary statistics for questions related to general STEM confidence, specifically Questions 2, 6, 7, 9, and 12. One participant who only submitted a post-program survey was excluded from the dataset and analysis to ensure consistency across responses.